Eight complaints against Devon county councillors were made in the last year, it has been revealed.

The agenda for next week’s Devon County Council Standards Committee says that a total of eight complaints were received under the members code of conduct in 2017/18.

The complaints were about alleged breaches of the code relating variously to councillors failing to treat others with respect, speaking rudely to staff, exercising undue influence and bullying and failure to deal with a constituent enquiry.

However, no further action was taken on six of the complaints, one allegation was not proven, while the final case is still ongoing.

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The report to the committee says: “Following an initial assessment of each complaint involving the Independent Person appointed by the Council, no further action was taken on six of the complaints on the basis that either there had been no material breach of the code that would warrant further investigation or the allegations would not constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct and therefore could not be investigated. In one case, the subject Member was not a councillor at the time of the alleged incidents.”

It continues: “There were two cases where a formal investigation was required. The first was an allegation that at a meeting of a council committee, the subject member failed to apply one or more of the principles of public life set out in the council’s code of conduct for councillors.

“In particular, they breached the specific provisions in the code in that they failed to treat others with courtesy and respect and generally that their actions could be characterised as bullying or intimidation and/or a potential abuse or misuse of power and that they had conducted themselves in a manner to bring their office and/or the council into disrepute.”

But the outcome, heard by the committee in August 2017, was that the allegations were not proven and there was no breach of the code of conduct, however a number of recommendations were made for further training in governance issues and meeting procedures.

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Planning and redevelopment

The second case is ongoing and has not formally reported yet, the committee report reveals.

The standards committee says it believes that attainment of high ethical standards is a crucial element of the work of any public body and the transparent robust application of those in public service is particularly important.